Editors Code of Practice: IPSO Flashcards
1
Q
Clause One
A
Accuracy
2
Q
Clause Two
A
Privacy
3
Q
Clause Three
A
Harrassment
4
Q
Clause Four
A
Intrusion into grief or shock
5
Q
Clause Five
A
Reporting suicide
6
Q
Clause Six
A
Children
7
Q
Clause Seven
A
Children in sex cases
8
Q
Clause Eight
A
Hospitals
9
Q
Clause Nine
A
Reporting of crime
10
Q
Clause Ten
A
Clandestine devices and subterfuge
11
Q
Clause Eleven
A
Victims of sexual assault
12
Q
Clause Twelve
A
Discrimination
13
Q
Clause Thirteen
A
Financial Journalism
14
Q
Clause Fourteen
A
Confidential sources
15
Q
Clause Fifteen
A
Witness payments in criminal trials
16
Q
Clause Sixteen
A
Payment to criminals
17
Q
Clause one: Accuracy
A
- Press must not publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information or images, including headlines not supported by the text.
- Any significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion must be corrected, promptly and with due prominence and apology published - if appropriate. In cases involving IPSO, due prominence should be required by the regulator.
18
Q
Clause two: Privacy
A
- Everyone is entitled to respect his or her private and family life, home, health and correspondence, including digital communications.
- Editors are expected to justify intrusions into any individual’s private life without consent.
- It is unacceptable to photograph individuals, without their consent in public or private places where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy.
19
Q
Clause three: Harassment
A
- Journalists must not engage in intimidation, harassment or persistent pursuit.
- Journalists must not persist in questioning, telephoning, pursuing or photographing individuals once asked to desist; nor remain on property when asked to leave and must not follow them.
- If requested, they must identify themselves and whom they represent.
- Editors must ensure these principles are observed by those working for them and take care not to use non-compliant material from other sources.
20
Q
Clause four: Intrusion into grief or shock
A
- In cases involving personal grief or shock, enquiries and approaches must be made with sympathy and discretion and publication handled sensitively.
- These provisions should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings.
21
Q
Clause five: Reporting suicide
A
- When reporting suicide, to prevent simulative acts care should be taken to avoid excessive detail of the method used, while taking into account the media’s right to report legal proceedings.
22
Q
Clause six: Children
A
- All pupils should be free to complete their time at school without unnecessary intrusion.
- They must not be approached or photographed at school without permission of the school authorities
- Children under 16 must not be interviewed or photographed on issues involving their own or another child’s welfare unless a custodial parent or adult carer consents.
23
Q
Clause Seven: Children in sex cases
A
- The press must not, even if legally free to do so, identify children under 16 who are victims or witnesses in cases involving sex offences.
- The child must not be identified
- The adult may be identified
- The word “incest” must not be used where a child might be identified.
- Care must be taken that nothing in the report suggests the relationship between the accused and the child.
24
Q
Clause eight: Hospitals
A
- Journalists must identify themselves and obtain permission from a responsible executive before entering non-public areas of hospitals or similar institutions to pursue enquiries.
- The restrictions on intruding into privacy are particularly relevant to enquiries about individuals in hospitals or similar institutions
25
Clause nine: Reporting of Crime
- Relatives or friends of persons convicted or accused of crime should not generally be identified without their consent, unless they are genuinely relevant to the story.
- This should not restrict the right to report legal proceedings
- Editors should generally avoid naming children under the age of 18 after arrest for a criminal offence but before they appear in a youth court unless they can show that the individual's name is already in the public domain
26
Clause ten: Clandestine devices and subterfuge
- The press must not seek to obtain or publish information acquired by using hidden cameras or clandestine listening devices; or by intercepting private or mobile telephone calls, messages or emails.
- Engaging in misrepresentation or subterfuge, including by agents or intermediaries, can generally be justified only in the public interest and then only when the material cannot be obtained by other means
27
Clause eleven: Victims of sexual assault
- The press must not identify or publish material likely to lead to the identification of a victim of sexual assault unless there is adequate justification and they are legally free to do so.
- Journalists are entitled to make enquiries but must take care and exercise discretion to avoid the unjustified disclosure of the identity of a victim of sexual assault.
28
Clause twelve: Discrimination
- The press must avoid prejudicial or pejorative reference to an individual’s race, colour, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or any physical or mental disability unless genuinely relevant to the story.
- Details of an individual’s race, colour, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental illness or disability must be avoided unless genuinely relevant to the story.
29
Clause thirteen: Financial journalism
- Even where the law does not prohibit it, journalists must not use for their own profit financial information they receive in advance of its general publication, nor should they pass information to others.
- Journalists must not write about shares or securities in whose performance they know that they or their close families have significant financial interest without disclosing the interest to the editor or financial editor.
- They must not buy or sell, either directly or through nominees or agents, shares or securities about which they have written recently or about which they intend to write in the near future.
30
Clause fourteen: Confidential sources
- Journalists have a moral obligation to protect confidential sources of information.
31
Clause fifteen: Witness payments in criminal trials
- No payment or offer of payment to a witness - or any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a witness – should be made in any case once proceedings are active as defined by the Contempt of Court Act 1981.
- Where proceedings are not yet active but are likely and foreseeable, editors must not make or offer payment to any person who may reasonably be expected to be called as a witness, **unless the information concerned ought demonstrably to be published in the public interest and there is an over-riding need to make or promise payment for this to be done;** and all reasonable steps have been taken to ensure no financial dealings influence the evidence those witnesses give. **In no circumstances should such payment be conditional on the outcome of a trial.**
- Any payment or offer of payment made to a person later cited to give evidence in proceedings must be disclosed to the prosecution and defence. The witness must be advised of this requirement.
32
Clause sixteen: Payment to criminals
- Payment or offers of payment for stories, pictures or information, which seek to exploit a particular crime or to glorify or glamorise crime in general, must not be made directly or via agents to convicted or confessed criminals or to their associates – who may include family, friends and colleagues.
- **Editors invoking the public interest to justify payment or offers would need to demonstrate that there was good reason to believe the public interest would be served. If, despite payment, no public interest emerged, then the material should not be published**
